Seasonal lead release to drinking water and the effect of aluminum

Monitoring lead in drinking water is important for public health, but seasonality in lead concentrations can bias monitoring programs if it is not understood and accounted for. Here, we describe an apparent seasonal pattern in lead release to orthophosphate-treated drinking water, identified through point-of-use sampling at sites in Halifax, Canada, with various sources of lead. Using a generalized additive model, we extracted the seasonally-varying components of time series representing a suite of water quality parameters and we identified aluminum as a correlate of lead. To investigate aluminum’s role in lead release, we modeled the effect of variscite (AlPO4 · 2H2O) precipitation on lead solubility, and we evaluated the effects of aluminum, temperature, and orthophosphate concentration on lead release from new lead coupons. At environmentally relevant aluminum and orthophosphate concentrations, variscite precipitation increased predicted lead solubility by decreasing available orthophosphate. Increasing the aluminum concentration from 20–500 µg L-1 increased lead release from coupons by 41% and modified the effect of orthophosphate, rendering it less effective. We attributed this to a decrease in the concentration of soluble (<0.45 µm) phosphorus with increasing aluminum and an accompanying increase in particulate lead and phosphorus (>0.45 µm).

Globalization and life lost due to tuberculosis: evidence from a multi-country study

Background: Tuberculosis affects around 30% of the population of the world. Tuberculosis causes an increase in early mortality and thus has the potential to increase the number of years of life lost. Globalization directly or indirectly by affecting the factors that increase the susceptibility for tuberculosis infection has the potential to increase the spread and mortality due to tuberculosis. This study assessed the causal link between globalization and the years of life lost due to tuberculosis. Methods: Data from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and World Bank for 2004 and 2005 were used for a number of covariates and possible mediators. Data from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) were used for the outcome variable and important globalization indicators. The primary health outcome that was studied is tuberculosis and the measure that was used to quantify tuberculosis mortality is the years of life lost (YLL). Path analysis was used. Results: The main independent variables of economic and social integration were not statistically significant. For every unit increase in the proportion of people that were using treated drinking water, there was a -0.0002 decrease in the YLL due to tuberculosis. For every unit increase in the proportion of people with earth floor, there was a 0.0002 units increase in YLL due to tuberculosis. For every unit increase in the proportion of people living using clean fuel, there was a 0.0004 decrease in the YLL due to tuberculosis. Conclusions: Social and economic globalization have no effect on the years of life lost due to tuberculosis, highlighting that globalization actually does not contribute to tuberculosis mortality. However, improving other important determinants such as sanitation, providing safe drinking water and clean households will reduce the mortality due to tuberculosis, highlighting the need to invest in them.

Bacteriological and Physico-chemical Qualities of Halabja Drinking Water

Water is crucial for all known forms of life without providing any calories or organic nutrients, while many people, especially in developing countries, may not be able to access pure and safe drinking water. They could lose their lives or become sick because waterborne diseases could contaminate the water, and when the chemical and/or physical properties of the water are not within the national and international standards. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate water quality of the Halabja drinking water and Sirwan river. Halabja city is located to north of Iraq, north-east of the capital Baghdad. Every week of the year 2019, apart from official holidays, water samples were collected from each of river and several areas (4-10 sections) in Halabja for the bacteriological analysis, while chemical and physical water quality was monthly checked. The results showed no detectable waterborne pathogens in all drinking water samples. Additionally, values of pH, turbidity, total dissolved substances, and electrical conductivity of the purified water samples had ranges of 7.97–8.5, 0.02-0.8 NTU, 246–362 mg/L, and 383–566 µS/cm, respectively. The treated drinking water was free of Free Residual Chlorine (FRC) and nitrite. The amounts of chloride, sulfate, and nitrate varied during the year 2019, with ranges of 48.2- 73.8, 36-141.5, and 1-5 mg/L, respectively. The values of water hardness and Ca+2 and Mg+2 concentrations ranged 132- 344, 48–89.5, and 2.2-29.2 mg/L, respectively. Based on the results, values of all the above parameters were within the Iraqi and the World Health Organization (WHO) drinking water standards, although the value of water hardness and the concentration of Ca+2 were near the upper limits of the standards, which might cause harm to the human body.

Environmental Pollutants and Contaminants of Emerging Concern: An African Perspective

This review focuses on the environmental pollutants and contaminants of emerging concern in Africa. There is increasing reports and identification of ecotoxicological impact of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), such as plastic, pharmaceutical products, modern pesticides, and personal care products, in terrestrial and aquatic environment within Africa. Identification of CECs, including pharmaceuticals, plastic wastes, pesticide residues, fungal toxins, and personal care products, have been documented in African region including in sediments, sludge, treated drinking water, surface water, wastewater, groundwater, land, solid deposits, etc. Some of the emerging pollutants of concern to environment and humans include lindane, heptachlor, endrin, endosulfan, dieldrin, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), benzaldehyde, aldrin, bisphenol A, phthalates, bisphenol S, etc. There is need for more studies to identify and quantify the existing and more emerging pollutants.

Universal Access to Safe Drinking Water: Escaping the Traps of Non-Frugal Technologies

This communication is motivated by recent publications discussing the affordability of appropriate decentralized solutions for safe drinking water provision in low-income communities. There is a huge contrast between the costs of presented technologies, which vary by a factor of up to 12. For example, for the production of 2000 L/d of treated drinking water, the costs vary between about 1500 and 12,000 Euro. A closer look at the technologies reveals that expensive technologies use imported manufactured components or devices that cannot yet be locally produced. In the battle to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal for safe drinking water (SDG 6.1), such technologies should be, at best, considered as bridging solutions. For a sustainable self-reliance in safe drinking water supply, do-it-yourself (DIY) systems should be popularized. These DIY technologies include biochar and metallic iron (Fe0) based systems. These relevant technologies should then be further improved through internal processes.

Resuscitation of Bacteria after Dechlorination of Treated Drinking Water

In this study, the effects of initial bacterial load (102 , 104 and 106 cells/ml) and dechlorination idiosyncrasy on the efficacy of varying concentrations (0.018–0.126% v/v applied for 30 minutes) of a point-of-use chlorine-based proprietary disinfectant (WaterCare®) were investigated in drinking water. Results indicated that higher initial cell populations significantly affected the efficacy of the disinfectant.Subsequent dechlorination of the disinfected water resulted in resuscitation of bacteria. This was demonstrated after 1440 minutes post-dechlorination for Salmonella typhi and after at least 120 minutes for Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris and Shigella dysenteriae, particularly at lower disinfectant concentrations (0.018–0.054% v/v). Thus, whilst the use of WaterCare® at the recommended dosage(0.072% v/v or 10 ml to 25 litres of clean water for 30 minutes) may produce microbiologically safe drinking water high initial microbial load and post-disinfection residual chlorine loss may limit its efficacy. Keywords: Bacterial resuscitation, Escherichia coli, Dechlorination, Drinking water, Salmonella typhi, WaterCare®

Occurrence and Human Health Risk Assessment of Pharmaceuticals and Hormones in Drinking Water Sources in the Metropolitan Area of Turin in Italy

Pharmaceuticals and hormones (PhACs) enter the aquatic environment in multiple ways, posing potential adverse effects on non-target organisms. They have been widely detected in drinking water sources, challenging water companies to reassure good quality drinking water. The aim of this study was to evaluate the concentration of sixteen PhACs in both raw and treated drinking water sources in the Metropolitan Area of Turin—where Società Metropolitana Acque Torino (SMAT) is the company in charge of the water cycle management—and evaluate the potential human health risks associated to these compounds. Multivariate spatial statistical analysis techniques were used in order to characterize the areas at higher risk of pollution, taking into account the already existing SMAT sampling points’ network. Health risks were assessed considering average detected concentrations and provisional guideline values for individual compounds as well as their combined mixture. As reported in the just-issued Drinking Water Directive 2020/2184/UE, in order to establish priority substances, a risk assessment of contaminants present in raw drinking water sources is required for monitoring, identifying potential health risks and, if necessary, managing their removal. The results showed negligibly low human health risks in both raw water sources and treated water.

Estimating pesticides in public drinking water at the household level in Denmark

Pesticide pollution has raised public concern in Denmark due to potential negative health impacts and frequent findings of new substances after a recent expansion of the groundwater monitoring programme. Danish drinking water comes entirely from groundwater. Both the raw groundwater and the treated drinking water are regularly monitored, and the chemical analyses are reported to a publicly available national database (Jupiter). Based on these data, in this study we (1) provide a status of pesticide content in drinking water supplied by public waterworks in Denmark and (2) assess the proportion of Danish households exposed to pesticides from drinking water. ‘Pesticides’ here refers also to their metabolites, degradation and reaction products. The cleaned dataset represents 3004 public waterworks distributed throughout the country and includes 39 798 samples of treated drinking water analysed for 449 pesticides (971 723 analyses total) for the period 2002–2019. Of all these chemical analyses, 0.5% (n = 4925) contained a quantified pesticide (>0.03 μg/l). Pesticides were found at least once in the treated drinking water at 29% of all sampled public waterworks for the period 2002–2019 and at 21% of the waterworks for the recent period 2015–2019. We estimate that 56% of all Danish households were potentially exposed at least once to pesticides in drinking water at concentrations of 0.03–4.00 μg/l between 2002 and 2019. However, in 2015–2019, the proportion of the Danish households exposed to pesticides (0.03–4.00 μg/l) was 41%. The proportion of Danish households potentially exposed at least once to pesticides above the maximum allowed concentration (0.1 μg/l) according to the EU Drinking Water Directive (and the Danish drinking water standard) was 19% for 2002–2019 and 11% for 2015–2019. However, the maximum concentrations were lower than the World Health Organization’s compound-specific guidelines. Lastly, we explore data complexity and discuss the limitations imposed by data heterogeneity to facilitate future epidemiological studies.

Determinants of drinking-water quality and sanitary risk levels of water storages in food establishments of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Introduction: Clean and suitable drinking-water is a key component to enhance human health. However, obtaining safe and adequate water is limited in many developing countries. Besides, treated drinking-water are often contaminated at storages and point of use with contaminants and consumption of unclean water poses a great public health problem. This study aimed to assess the determinants of drinking-water quality and sanitary risk levels of water storages in food establishments of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted. 125 food outlets were selected using a simple random sampling technique. Then, 125 drinking-water samples (250 from each) were collected directly from the food outlets drinking-water storages. Moreover, observational checklist was used to assess determinants of drinking-water quality and sanitary risk levels of the storages. Data analysis was conducted using multivariable logistic regression.Results: This study revealed that, 28.5% of the drinking-water was contaminated with fecal coliforms. Besides, based on WHO criteria, 16.3% and 18.7% of the food outlet drinking-water storages were grouped into high and very high contamination risk levels respectively. Seven (7) explanatory variables were identified as main determinant factors which significantly associated (p-value < 0.03) with the contaminated drinking-water. Conclusion: Most of the food establishments’ drinking-water was free from bacteriological contamination and safe from biological hazards. However, significant number of food establishments’ drinking-water storages had fecal contamination. In the study, many determinant factors that affect drinking-water quality of the food outlets were identified. Therefore, good sanitation and hygiene practice should be practiced at the food establishments. Besides, creation of awareness about drinking water contamination and its health risks should be done by concerned bodies.